A Territorial Dispute
by Terpsichore ON CRACK
Summary: Enki's one law upon his tournament victory brought peace between the human and demon worlds, but his term is coming to an end, and the race is on to seize power before the next one. The Tantei come together to keep the peace, again. long summary inside


Disclaimer: Yuu Yuu Hakusho and its characters belong to Togashi and the companies that produced the manga and anime. If it were mine, I would be demanding payment for this.

Author's Notes: This story takes place post series, and I'm trying to keep in line with canon events as much as I can. However, there will most certainly be elements of SHOUNEN AI, AKA, male/male relationships. It won't necessarily be the primary focus of the story, but if don't like the idea of Hiei and Kurama kissing, feel free to hit the back button on your browser. Other warnings: Lots of cursing, blood, sarcasm, and uh, spoilers for the whole series, I guess.

Also, I'm going to apologize in advance for mixing Japanese and English terms; I've only seen the whole series in English, but I'm familiar with the Japanese terminology. Some things sound better to me in one language than in the other, such as Dark Martial Arts (or just Dark) Tournament as opposed to Ankoku Buujutsukai (which is a pain to type) or Makai as opposed to Demon World. I'll probably be interchanging reiki and spirit energy, as I don't always catch myself writing one or the other. So I'm sorry about any confusion that may come from this.

Summary: Genkai's living the good life, Yuusuke's got a job and a fiancé, Kuwabara's given up his street cred in favor of good grades, Kurama's living peacefully and mundanely with his family, and Hiei's making the border rounds in the Makai. Enki's law brought peace between the human and demon worlds, but his term is coming to an end, and the race is on to seize power before the next tournament. The Tantei are forced to come together to keep the peace, again.

--

When Genkai woke up that morning, she had expected her day to be simple and structured. Eat breakfast, take a walk, play video games, eat lunch, take a nap, train Yukina, eat dinner, then play more games until she finally got tired and went to sleep.

If it was a weekend or a school holiday, then Kuwabara would drop by to flirt with the oblivious Yukina, who enjoyed the attention, even if she didn't quite comprehend the intention. Every once in a while an occultist or a monk would drop by to pray or interview her, and she dealt with them as they came, without much trouble. It was understandable that her reputation in the Makai would translate back to the Ningenkai, so she dealt with her fans as she dealt with everyone, with a stern voice and no-nonsense attitude.

In the years after the Makai tournament, Genkai had relished the peace brought by Enki's law, and for the first time in fifty years, she allowed herself to finally relax and take it easy.

Yukina's presence in the temple kept her mildly busy and entertained, and, as much as Genkai would like to deny it, the girl eased the inevitable loneliness that came with living isolated and alone for so long.

Yuusuke Urameshi's explosive invasion and subsequent takeover of her life for nearly two years had made her feel more alive than she had in years, despite her death, revival, and the near-apocalypse she had experienced from her involvement with him. The dimwit and his friends had brought the old Genkai back to life, but, now that he was all grown up, she wasn't in the picture anymore.

She had given Yuusuke all the training she could, and upon his return from the Makai, he immediately immersed himself in mundane Ningenkai life. She felt neither sad nor neglected, now that he was getting himself together, just surprised that she had expected him to come back to the temple. They really do grow up so fast, she thought.

So, as the third year of Enki's rule came upon them, and no border conflicts arose, thanks to the combined forces of the loyal denizens of the Makai and the vigilance of the border patrol, Genkai was content. Her days blurred together, as they tend to do in peaceful old age, and she devoted her time to beating the crap out of the zombies on her new PlayStation and teaching Yukina human healing techniques, something which the girl enjoyed immensely, and also served to keep Genkai's own energy level up.

Her daily routine was simple and easy, and hence, she was quite disgruntled when on a lazy Saturday in the middle of June, her final combo slaughter attack on the giant flying zombie was interrupted by the jarring noise of a dimensional portal ripping straight through the fabric of reality in her living room.

She gave a heaving sigh and paused the game, all too aware that her vacation had just come to its sudden end. Hoisting herself up using her walking stick (in the last year she had begun to feel an annoying twinge in her knee that was eased by the use of a walking stick) Genkai pushed open the screen door that led to the living room and stepped through the opening.

A gaping hole in the time-space continuum hovered ominously above her coffee table, frayed tendrils of energy spiraling out from the torn edges. Even as she looked, the hole was expanding to accommodate the shape that bubbled just on the other side, writhing and pushing to come through.

A swell of cold youki accompanied by a feminine gasp alerted Genkai to Yukina's presence, and she thrust an arm out to the side to keep the girl in place.

"Stay where you are," she commanded gruffly, not taking her eyes off the hole. She might not be as young as she used to be, but she sure as hell wasn't about to let some demon invade her home without a confrontation.

Spirit Wave or no, Genkai still had enough energy in her body to make her a formidable opponent, even against an upper B class demon, and this thing inside the hole wasn't even emanating an aura to match that. Whoever it was, they had some gall opening a portal in the middle of her house.

The figure within twitched, and suddenly surged forward, pushing and stretching the edges of the gap further to climb through, and dropped on the coffee table, breaking it as it landed. The demon was grotesque, but normal demon grotesque, as opposed to, say, Toguro at full power grotesque, what with the veins and shoulder valves and all.

He had a dog-like muzzle, with piercing blue eyes set high up on its head, wide ears open and pointing straight up. He reared on hoofed feet, shaking a shaggy grey mane and stretching massive fur-covered arms as he opened his maw, letting out a shrieking cry that cut through the humid air and left a ringing in their ears.

Genkai and Yukina remained unfazed, both having seen much worse in their days. Genkai shook her pinky in her ear trying to get rid of the obnoxious ringing that brought her preexisting headache to full bleeding migraine level, and growled irately.

"Are you quite finished yet? Because I'm in the middle of a very important boss battle, and you're interrupting my game time," she said simply, dropping into a battle stance. "Now, will you go back through your little portal on your own, or is my foot going to have to kick your ass through?"

The demon laughed, long, loud, and completely unnecessarily. When would these villains learn that mocking laughter only left them open to attack? Genkai endured as long as she could stand it, then as she braced herself to strike, it suddenly stopped.

"I apologize, Master Genkai, for intruding in such a manner. I come not to fight, but to deliver a message from my boss," he boomed, deep gravelly voice reverberating around the room most annoyingly. "I am but a nameless grunt, here for the sole purpose of warning you and your little apprentice about the impending apocalypse of the human race."

Genkai rolled her eyes. "I could care less. I don't deal with apocalypse aversion anymore, and your people would know that if you'd bothered to do any research on me. Now you have five seconds to get the hell out before I get physical."

As the demon gaped in shock at the blatant snub, Yukina made a noise. "But Master Genkai, what if it's something important? Shouldn't we listen so we can warn the others?" she whispered.

"If this boss of his is like every other enemy we've faced in the last few years, he'll probably go and tell Yuusuke himself," she grunted. "Demons with aspirations of world domination tend to follow the same basic plan."

At this, the demon started, affronted. "I'll have you know my boss is not at all like those morons you've killed before! My boss is brilliant! My boss is special! We've learned from the mistakes of our predecessors!" his voice rose to a painful pitch, and the two women winced.

"Yeah, whatever. You're still on top of my coffee table."

"Fine! I'll go! Just take this!" he threw a fancy looking scroll in her direction, then climbed back through the portal which closed with a sickly sucking noise, all traces of its presence vanishing with a final pop. Except for the broken coffee table, of course.

Yukina sighed. "That was anticlimactic," she said, and moved closer to Genkai. "What does it say?"

Genkai ripped the gold tassels off the ends of the scroll and forced it open, reading quickly with Yukina looking over her shoulder.

"Wonderful," she said, when she had finished. "Would you mind giving Botan a call? It seems this might be more of a Reikai issue than I thought."

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

"Welcome!" Keiko greeted, smiling widely as the job required, but then more genuinely as she recognized the customer. "Kuwabara! How are you?"

They hugged briefly, and the orange haired boy grinned at her.

"Great, but starving. Is Urameshi around? We're supposed to go see that new kung fu movie after he gets off work," he said, moving to sit at the counter as she pulled a notepad from the pocket of her apron.

It was the lunch rush, and the ramen shop was crowded with businessmen fleeing from their cubicles for a quick bite. The combination of shouting cooks and patrons accompanied by the sizzle and hiss of steam from the kitchen created a cacophony that forced them to shout louder than it to be heard.

"He's making a delivery right now, he should be back soon!" Keiko yelled into his ear. "The usual, right?"

"Yes ma'am!"

"Give me a couple of minutes and I'll come sit with you," she said loudly, and after shouting back to the cooks, moved swiftly to make the rounds around the crowded restaurant. She collected orders quickly and efficiently, and went to cook for him herself.

"So, how's school going? I'm sure Shizuru is putting you through the wringer," she laughed good-naturedly as she worked.

Kuwabara chuckled. "She's been pretty busy, actually, something about a cute guy at her job that I really don't want to know about. I've spent more time with Kurama lately than her, to be honest."

"That's so great! I'm glad she's moving on," Keiko said, as she finished up the bowl and moved around the counter to place it in front of Kuwabara, sitting down in the empty seat next to him. The closer proximity enabled them to lower their voices enough to talk normally. "Isn't Kurama working for his stepfather instead of going to college? I couldn't believe it when he didn't apply to any. With scores like his he could have gone where ever he wanted."

"I know, I was surprised too. Something about being closer to his family, I think he said," Kuwabara grunted through a mouthful of noodles. "The Hatanaka company is really close to my college, actually, so we've been going out pretty regularly for lunch and stuff."

Suddenly, he turned and fixed her with an intense stare. Keiko shifted uncomfortably, knowing that his question was inevitable.

"That's not what I really want to talk to you about, though," he said, focusing all of his attention on her. A noodle swung ominously from his chin, and she resisted the urge to flick it off.

Silence. Keiko tensed, bracing herself.

"Are you and Urameshi getting married yet?"

She squirmed a little, folded his napkin into a triangle, then unfolded it before responding, not meeting his eyes.

"Kuwabara, you know we don't want to talk-"

The door slammed open, letting in a blast of hot air, and effectively distracting Kuwabara. The noodle dropped to the floor.

"That's it, pops, I'm done for today! It's too damn hot to be running around carrying food!"

The hurricane that was Yuusuke Urameshi stomped into the restaurant, and Keiko dropped her head in her hands as her father stuck his head out from the kitchen.

"You be quiet, kid, and do as you're told!" came the answering shout. "Your shift is over anyway, so I don't know what you're whining about!"

"They're always like this," Keiko glared at her boyfriend as the customers and Kuwabara watched bemusedly.

The ongoing drama of Keiko and Yuusuke's relationship had only intensified when Yuusuke took a job at the Yukimura restaurant, presumably to try and impress both her and her parents.

Her father had assured him that he needed to do no such thing, pointing out that he'd been a part of the family for years already, and had no need to impress them, but the (slightly) reformed thug had insisted, saying he had to make up for all the crap Keiko went through with him.

They gave in, and Mr. Yukimura took his job as Yuusuke's boss seriously, putting him through his paces relentlessly. Yuusuke's constant presence in the ramen shop made it so that he and Keiko could bicker to their hearts' content, and their rocky relationship, which the most loyal of the restaurant's patrons were already well familiar with, became a point of entertainment for the newer customers as well. One good thing that came of this, though, was that when they finally got it together enough to get married, they would have the support of many outside of their inner circle.

Kuwabara could tell that Keiko couldn't contain herself for much longer, so he took action to get Yuusuke out of there before the couple got into another argument. He knew how long they could bicker once they got going, and he really didn't want to be late for that movie. Grabbing Yuusuke's arm, he rushed towards the door.

"Food was great, Keiko, as usual, thanks a lot, it was great to see you, but we gotta go now and come ON, Urameshi!"

As they emerged into the bright sunlight and the door closed behind them, they could hear Keiko's following yell.

"Don't you DARE be late tomorrow, Yuusuke!"

"All right, all right!" he called back, shrugging out of Kuwabara's grip easily and pinning him in a casual headlock.

"Urameshi!" The taller boy countered with an elbow to the stomach, stumbling forward as Yuusuke released him. "Let's go already!"

They glared at each other once for good measure, and set off walking, hands in pockets. Two years without seeing each other, and just as Kuwabara was about to give up on any hope of Yuusuke coming back, he swept right back into their lives again. It was astonishing how little he'd changed. Feeling a wave of some heavy introspection coming on, Kuwabara pinched the bridge of his nose in agitation. His psych class was really getting to him, he surmised. Making him think too much about things.

Yuusuke was back, they were friends, and there were no demons threatening either of their lives, for once.

He grinned, and turned to the other, who was currently rambling about the movie. "And did you see that move he pulled in the preview where he twisted his neck all the way around? I swear, if I didn't know better I'd think that that guy was totally ripping from my fight with Toguro, y'know?"

Kuwabara opened his mouth to give an insulting response, then froze as the part of his brain that was devoted to sensing supernatural creatures suddenly sprung to life with the force of a baseball bat swung by Sensui.

Oh, damn it. Had he really expected to never see another demon besides Kurama ever again?

Next to Kuwabara, even Yuusuke was bristling, his hair standing on end as his finally developed demon senses kicked in. That's one good thing about the demon genes, he reasoned. The demon aura sensor comes with the territory.

The feeling was all around him, overwhelming him so that he couldn't tell where it was coming from. Kuwabara's sixth sense had been long dormant to anything but the occasional weak ghost flitting by, and this invading power exploded behind his eyes and made the bile rise in his throat.

"Show yourself, dammit!" Yuusuke shouted, whirling in a circle, index finger already glowing with built up energy. They'd made it around the corner and halfway down the block from Keiko's, so there was little risk of a fight affecting there. They couldn't cut loose, but then again, Yuusuke could never really cut loose in the Ningenkai again. The sidewalk was empty for the time of day, and the two boys found themselves alone and squinting in the blinding sun of midday for the source of the unfamiliar presence.

"If you know who we are, you should know not to fuck with us!"

Yuusuke's bragging was not unfounded, his name (and his power) was widely known throughout the Makai, especially after the tournament.

Kuwabara knew his right hand was glowing as well, spirit sword ready to burst free and slice through whatever it is that was after them. He felt a flicker of demon energy on his left and pivoted, finding it to be (unsurprisingly) coming from the unnaturally shadowed alley right next to them. He dodged a trashcan and ran straight in, not failing to notice the darkness that surrounded him and Yuusuke, until it felt like they were in a dark alley at three in the morning instead of twelve in the afternoon.

A feminine voice drifted out towards them, mocking and haunting in the way that most female villains tend to sound when trying to be intimidating and mysterious.

"Hello there, boys."

The boys in question swallowed, hard.

The woman was tall and imposing, standing with her hip cocked to one side and an amused quirk to her lips. Her skin was an attractive shade of blue, (almost lavender, Kuwabara thought) and her hair was long, and as black as Yuusuke's own, swept off the sides of her face in two small braids, the rest cascading down her back. She wore a short dress made of some thin material which left little to the imagination, draping and clinging in all the right spots that couldn't help but catch the eyes of the two teenage boys, and elegant eyebrows arched above narrowed grey eyes. Few women with actual personalities could boast a description so rife with run-on sentences, and this woman was not one of them.

To make a long story short, she was very, very attractive, inhuman aura of evil and all. Now, while Kuwabara and Yuusuke were only human, (or half-demon, in the latter's case) they were also not complete idiots. They took notice of her come-hither look, and squirmed a bit uncomfortably, but neither swooned in the presence of her beauty nor jumped to grope her. They somehow managed to refrain from cowering in terror, as well, because of the complete lack of any tangible threat in her aura. She was good at manipulating energy to cause confusion, that much was obvious, but once they came face to face with her, it was clear that she was no real danger to them, barring the prospect of her having more energy hidden.

"What do you want?" barked Yuusuke irritably, making a valiant effort to not look at her nipples, and failing, as his gaze was drawn almost inexorably downwards.

"I'm Lilith," she said, locking eyes with him as they snapped up from her chest, and smirking. "I'm here to deliver a message, and a request."

Flicking one purple nailed-finger, a lavishly decorated scroll appeared in a flash of blue fire, hovering above the demon woman's open palm. Yuusuke and Kuwabara started at the sudden light, but recovered quickly and glared, pointedly not looking at her body.

"So scary," Lilith giggled, and the scroll floated across to them. They didn't take it. "Oh, please don't be difficult. I'm not here to fight, really."

"You're here, aren't you? Tell us your message yourself," Kuwabara said, defiantly not touching the scroll. What if it's a bomb or something, like that guy Kurama fought that one time, he thought, and edged away from it a little bit.

Lilith sighed attractively, flicking a lock of hair from her shoulder,

"Your world is about to end," she said bluntly, examining her cuticles absently. At the boys' skeptical expressions, she continued. "All right, not _end_, precisely. More like get completely taken over. It's more the end of the human race than anything else."

"Someone said that once before, you know, and we stopped him no problem." Yuusuke glowered at her.

"Oh, but this is different, you see, because there's no barrier to stop us from coming in and killing you all. Well, not you, specifically, but your people. You know what I mean."

"Enki's still in charge, you can't! The border patrol will stop anyone who tries to come over here," he argued, his temper building quickly.

"Did you really think all demons would obey that oaf peacefully? Mukuro and Yomi's people may have gone soft, but that doesn't mean the rest of us have. We're hungry for human flesh, and there are enough of us to destroy humanity in a heartbeat," at this she paused for dramatic effect.

"Yet...you don't see us doing that, do you?" Lilith inquired, lip curling to reveal rows of pointed teeth. When no response came forth immediately, she went on.

"That's what that letter is about, sillies. My boss would like to propose an exchange. He receives your support in his endeavors, and your families and friends will be spared."

"What? Fuck that!" Yuusuke shouted, raising his finger to point straight at the demon, who looked rather startled at his sudden challenge. She backed up a little bit.

"Come on, it's a good deal! It doesn't really matter to you anyway, you're Raizen's heir and-" she was cut off by the sound of Yuusuke's rei gun blast, eyes widening at the glowing ball of blue light headed right for her face. "Shit!"

She jumped out of the way, dissolving into shadow. Sunlight pierced through the darkness, illuminating the alley, until the only evidence that anything out of the ordinary had occurred was the smoking hole in the wall from Yuusuke's attack, and the scroll, which clattered to the ground at Kuwabara's feet. He ignored it, staring at the crumbling bricks.

"Fuck, Urameshi! You couldn't have just punched her or something?" he said indignantly.

"Shut up! Let's get out of here before the cops come!" came the agitated response. In a flash, Yuusuke was gone, tearing out of the alley without a look back. Kuwabara made to follow, but paused to crouch and snatch the scroll before hauling ass out of there.

Just like old times.

--

That's it for chapter one! This story really won't take itself too seriously, since I just can't control the snark most times.

Next chapter a few more characters will make their appearances. Definitely Kurama, maybe Hiei, Mukuro, Yomi, and Koenma as well. This is going to be somewhat slow evolving, since I have a vague outline of the whole thing, but still haven't worked out the individual chapters yet. I apologize for the long introduction! Hopefully it'll pick up soon.

And, just a random question--is it the Makai/Ningenkai/Reikai or just Makai/Ningenkai/Reikai. I've seen both, and I'm not sure which is the right way to say it.

And also...Reviews are delicious. I eat them for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.


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